Paraguay Lets an Exile Return

AP

Published: April 26, 1987

ASUNCION, Paraguay, April 25—
Domingo Laino, an opposition leader exiled four years ago by the Government of President Alfredo Stroessner, returned home today without incident.

Mr. Laino, a 51-year-old economist, was expelled in December 1982 for writing a book critical of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the deposed Nicaraguan dictator who was killed in a rocket attack on an Asuncion street in 1980. He was a friend of General Stroessner.

''I hope my presence here serves to unite all Paraguayans,'' Mr. Laino said on arrival at the Asuncion airport. He was met by about 100 people, including family members, opposition politicians and journalists.

''I want to collaborate with the transition to democracy,'' he said, ''although it will be difficult because this is a very closed system that has been in place for 33 years.''

General Stroessner, 74, has ruled Paraguay since 1954.

Mr. Laino spent his exile in Buenos Aires. Five times he tried to return to his homeland. Last June, he arrived with Robert White, a campaigner for human rights in Latin America and a former United States Ambassador to El Salvador, but was beaten by the police, put back on the plane and flown to Uruguay.

There was no reaction from the Government on Mr. Laino's return, which comes after the lifting April 8 of state of siege powers in the capital that had been in effect since General Stroessner took power.